As much as I enjoy watching the deer that roam my neighborhood, I think their time has come. I don't live close enough to benefit, but Valley Forge National Park in our region will be thinning the herd that roams there from 1,277 to 185. Naturally, animal rights groups are protesting. Their efforts would be better spent trying to develop birth control and implement its use to prevent the overpopulation of deer. I support the efforts of park management to maintain some balance in nature. When deer overpopulate, they eat so much that they impact the environment for other animals and other animal populations decrease as a result of their altered habitats. The deer will be harvested by sharp shooters, dressed for meat, and used for food. I have eaten venison and it is a tasty meat when cooked properly. It is the natural food chain. Deer hunting is legal in the state and most of the hunting is done in isolated areas to be used as food. The hunting in state parks will occur during the state hunting season.
The deer have no natural predators and only cars thin the herd. A close encounter between a deer and a car results in a dead deer and a total destruction of the car usually, not to mention occasional great injury to the occupants of the car. Deer that are road kill are never harvested to feed anyone. Mayhem on the roads is the least desirable solution to the over-population. They are breeding almost as abundantly as rabbits and the numbers spiral out of control. They carry deer ticks which result in Lyme disease for humans, which my family has already experienced first hand. One can have Lyme more than once which is a constant concern. They eat any vegetation they can reach and destroy yards, gardens and future tree growth.
I love the story Bambi, but I grew up close to nature in the forties and fifties where animals were food. We ate chickens, ducks, rabbits, pork, beef and fish. We would have harvested sheep and goats if they were in the area. To me, it is no different to eat deer just because someone wrote a wonderful story about a baby deer called Bambi. The deer are beautiful to look at, but no one goes around the yard picking up their waste matter with plastic bags or killing their ticks. When we moved to our present home twenty five years ago, there were no deer for over ten years. Suddenly they started showing up when there was a lot of development on farmlands nearby. Now I can sometimes count over a dozen on the property. Birth control efforts are preferable, but has not been developed or widely used. I would like to see more governmental efforts to control this situation. I have requested this in our area, but so far, the problem has been ignored and it is only increasing, not disappearing. Meanwhile, my yard smells like a horse barn and forget enjoying the yard for gardening or recreation.
